WHO says nearly 100,000 struck with cholera in Sudan
Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has killed tens of thousands.
"In Sudan, unrelenting violence has led to widespread hunger, disease and suffering," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"Cholera has swept across Sudan, with all states reporting outbreaks. Nearly 100,000 cases have been reported since July last year."
Oral cholera vaccination campaigns had been conducted in several states, including the capital Khartoum, he told a press conference with the Geneva UN correspondents' association ACANU.
"While we are seeing a declining trend in numbers, there are gaps in disease surveillance, and progress is fragile," he said.
"Recent floods, affecting large parts of the country, are expected to worsen hunger and fuel more outbreaks of cholera, malaria, dengue and other diseases."
Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through food and water contaminated with bacteria, often from faeces.
It causes severe diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle cramps.
Cholera can kill within hours when not attended to, though it can be treated with simple oral rehydration, and antibiotics for more severe cases.
There has been a global increase in cholera cases, and their geographical spread, since 2021.
- Malnutrition -
As for hunger, Tedros said there were reports from El-Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur state, that people were eating animal feed to survive.
Across the country, millions are going hungry and around 770,000 children under five years old are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year.
"In the first six months of this year, nutrition centres supported by WHO have treated more than 17,000 severely malnourished children with medical complications. But many more are beyond reach," Tedros warned.
The UN health agency's efforts were being held back by limited access and a lack of funding, he added, with the WHO having received less than a third of the money it has appealed for to provide urgent health assistance in Sudan.
The WHO director-general said that as long as the violence continues in Sudan, "we can expect to see more hunger, more displacement and more disease".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Tennis legend Monica Seles reveals myasthenia gravis diagnosis as her latest 'hard reset'
Monica Seles first noticed the symptoms of myasthenia gravis while she was swinging a racquet the way she had done so many times. The 51-year-old Seles, who won the first of her nine major trophies as a 16-year-old at the 1990 French Open and played her last match in 2003, said she was diagnosed with the neuromuscular autoimmune disease three years ago and is speaking publicly about it for the first time ahead of the US Open, which starts on August 24, to raise awareness about what is known as MG. "I would be playing with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, 'Yeah, I see two balls.' These are obviously symptoms that you can't ignore," Seles said. "And, for me, this is when this journey started. And it took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it's a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot." According to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: "[MG is] a chronic neuromuscular disease that causes weakness in the voluntary muscles" and "most commonly impacts young adult women (under 40) and older men (over 60) but … can occur at any age, including childhood." It can lead to problems with speaking, chewing, swallowing and breathing, and while many complications are treatable, some can be life-threatening. Seles said she had never heard of the condition before seeing a doctor and being referred to a neurologist after noticing symptoms such as double vision and weakness in her legs and arms, when even "just blowing my hair out … became very difficult". Do you have a story idea about women in sport? Email us abcsport5050@ The tennis legend said she wished at the time of her diagnosis, she "had somebody like me speak up about it". She talks about learning to live a "new normal" nowadays and characterised her health as another in a series of life steps that required adapting. This year marks three decades since Seles returned to competition and reached the final at the 1995 US Open, more than two years after she was attacked by a man with a knife at a tournament in Hamburg, Germany. "I had to, in tennis terms, I guess, reset — hard reset — a few times," she said. "I call my first hard reset when I came to the US as a young 13-year-old [from Yugoslavia]. Didn't speak the language; left my family. It's a very tough time. "Then, obviously, becoming a great player, it's a reset, too, because the fame, money, the attention, changes [everything], and it's hard as a 16-year-old to deal with all that. "Then obviously my stabbing — I had to do a huge reset. "And then, really, being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis: another reset. But one thing, as I tell kids that I mentor: 'You've got to always adjust. That ball is bouncing, and you've just got to adjust'. And that's what I'm doing now." AP
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Over 31 cases of polio in Papua New Guinea after outbreak declared in May, WHO says
More than 31 cases of polio have been detected in Papua New Guinea since the disease re-emerged earlier this year. The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the numbers on Monday, as PNG launched a national immunisation campaign in Port Moresby. An outbreak was declared in May after two children were confirmed to have the virus. Polio, also known as poliomyelitis, is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects children under the age of five. It can also affect older age groups. Most people who have it have no symptoms, but it can lead to irreversible paralysis in about one in 200 infections, or 1 per cent of cases. The virus is spread by person-to-person contact or the ingestion of contaminated virus from faeces. Because the virus multiplies in the gut of infected people, who then shed it in their stool for several weeks, it can spread through a community, particularly in areas with poor sanitation. The WHO said over 31 detections of the virus had been confirmed in Papua New Guinea through environmental and community surveillance since May. While no cases of paralysis had been reported, the risk of further transmission remained high due to low immunisation rates and poor access to children who lived in remote areas. The WHO said the vaccine campaign would focus on the mainland provinces, of which 17 had been identified as high-risk areas. Here, both the oral polio vaccine and the polio vaccine jab were due to be administered. The New Guinea Islands provinces had been deemed lower-risk, and one round of the polio vaccine injection was planned. "This moment represents more than just a public health initiative — it is a bold step forward in our shared mission to secure the health and future of Papua New Guinea's youngest generation," WHO PNG representative Dr Masahiro Zakoji said. A baby receives polio vaccine in PNG. ( Supplied: WHO Papua New Guinea ) Last year, UNICEF highlighted Papua New Guinea's low childhood immunisation coverage. It found that only about 50 per cent of children born each year received "essential life-saving vaccines", which included the oral polio vaccine. That left about 120,000 children unvaccinated each year, the agency said. It said to prevent outbreaks and reach herd immunity against polio, vaccine coverage should be at least 95 per cent. The agency said that while the global prevalence of the disease had plummeted by more than 99 per cent in the past 35 years, millions of children were still affected because they missed out on the vaccine. Most of these children (85 per cent) were living in "fragile settings", UNICEF said. These included countries and communities where there was conflict, natural disasters and humanitarian crises. In 2000, Papua New Guinea was declared polio-free, but 18 years later, an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio type 1 was declared. It resulted in 26 cases across nine provinces in 2018. The WHO said the 2018 Papua New Guinea outbreak was brought under control through further rounds of vaccination, community engagement and better surveillance of the disease. Meanwhile, the current outbreak is related to vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2. In May, Papua New Guinea's health department said the strain was a "rare form of the virus that can emerge in under-immunised communities but is well understood and can be effectively controlled through vaccination". RNZ
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
North Queensland grazier warns of blackleg disease after cattle die
North Queensland grazier Peter Finlay did routine checks on his weaner cattle, but two days later, nearly 40 were dead. "I was pretty gutted because I hate to lose one, but when you lose a whole mob like that," Mr Finlay said. Carcass testing found blackleg, a bacterial disease contracted from soil, to be the cause of death. Mr Finlay, from Torrens Creek, about 300 kilometres south-west of Townsville, was shocked by the findings. Blackleg is a spore-forming bacteria that primarily affects younger cattle. It is almost always fatal within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. Cases have previously been reported in central and southern Queensland and New South Wales, but rarely in north Queensland. "I've been in this industry for 40-odd years, and we've never thought to have had the problem," Mr Finlay said. Hughenden veterinarian Libby Harriman said it was the first confirmed case for her client base in the Torrens Creek area. "Traditionally, we don't see a lot of blackleg in this area," Dr Harriman said. "But, we have heard of other cases towards Julia Creek, so anywhere along those lines is obviously in that 'at-risk area' now." She said outbreaks of the soil-borne bacteria often occurred after soil disturbances and rain. The north-west has had a favourable wet season, with monsoonal February rain saving what had been a dry 2024. When livestock eat contaminated feed or soil, spores enter the bloodstream, which leads to blood poisoning and rapid death. "But [cattle] can actually carry it in their system for a long time, until it's triggered by bruising or other muscle damage," Dr Harriman said. A Department of Primary Industries spokesperson said blackleg was an endemic disease in Queensland and was not a notifiable disease under the Biosecurity Act 2014, meaning producers were under no obligation to report it. They said veterinarians often diagnosed blackleg without departmental involvement, so department-recorded cases may not accurately reflect the incidence of disease in the field. "Current departmental diagnostic data does not show an increase in blackleg diagnoses compared to previous years," the spokesperson said. Dr Harriman said blackleg cases were not always reported. "Producers tend to be a little bit cautious about finding an infectious disease on their property for fear of being shut down by Biosecurity Queensland or something like that," she said. "It's just so important that producers do speak up about these sorts of things and contact your local vet." Symptoms of the disease include lameness in the hind legs, swelling in large muscles, fever, depression and refusal to eat. A distinctive symptom is also gas under the skin, which produces a crackling sound when the affected area is touched. The potentially fatal condition can be prevented with a vaccination, which Dr Harriman encouraged for all cattle, not just those in areas with known cases, as the disease often impacted large numbers at a time. While blackleg is not contagious from animal to animal, bacteria from a carcass can spread into the soil, which can then be contracted again. Dr Harriman recommended burning the affected carcass and not dragging it along the ground. Mr Finlay said his remaining 306 cattle looked healthy and had since been vaccinated. As he counted the cost of his loss, he encouraged other graziers to follow suit. "The alternative is just terrible," he said.
